"The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah." We tend to forget that the Bible is a book of promises: promise after promise. And God continues to fulfill them. Even when God gets upset with us, God reminds us that God has made promises to us and will fulfill them. And God always does. The only issue is this: are we patient enough to wait for them?....Jesus said, "Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert when he comes; truly I tell you, he will fasten his belt and have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them." Jesus is asking a lot. It is difficult to be alert ALL the time. Is it possible to be alert all the time without becoming obsessive about our behavior? Or is Jesus rather asking us to be conscious of how we order our priorities, of putting the master first in our thinking and in our behaving?...The writer to the Hebrews says, "...let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching." What an interesting statement of the mission of the church. We are to "provoke" one another to love and good deeds. We should not "neglect" to meet together. It is very understated, but it allows us so much room for thought and action.